NCLR and NHLA Praise Ruling in Favor of Home Care Workers

NCLR and NHLA Praise Ruling in Favor of Home Care Workers

WASHINGTON, D.C.—NCLR (National Council of La Raza) and the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA) are celebrating a unanimous ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that upholds the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) regulation to extend federal minimum wage and overtime protections to home care workers. Earlier this year, both groups joined a number of civil rights and women’s rights organizations to file an amicus brief supporting the regulation. The court’s August 21 ruling overturns a legal challenge to DOL’s regulation, finalized September 2013, that would benefit two million workers who care for the elderly and people with disabilities in their homes. Approximately 21 percent of the home care workforce is Latino.

“The Court’s decision reaffirms what we know to be true: that DOL was well within its authority to grant these vital protections to home care workers,” said Eric Rodriguez, Vice President of the Office of Research, Advocacy and Legislation at NCLR. “This is a clear signal that states should act quickly to implement these long-overdue wage standards.”

Home care is a multibillion-dollar industry that is projected to keep growing as the U.S. population ages. The Department of Labor projects that by 2020, the home care industry will add 1.3 million jobs, a growth rate of 70 percent—much faster than the growth rate of 14 percent for all occupations. Poverty-level wages undermine the economic security of workers and their families and do not equate with the value home care workers provide. Yet, due to a historic exclusion from protection under the Fair Labor Standards Act, most home care workers earn very low wages. The national average wage for home care workers is $9.70 per hour.

“The U.S. Court of Appeals decision is a victory for hardworking Latinas and Latinos who deserve fair pay for the many hours of dedicated work they provide,” said Hector Sanchez, Chair of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda and Executive Director of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement. “Latinas in particular are overrepresented in the home care industry but they do not receive a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work. This court ruling will help correct a longstanding injustice for hundreds of thousands of Latina workers, enabling them to better provide for themselves and their families.”

NCLR—the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States—works to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans. For more information on NCLR, please visit www.nclr.org or follow along on Facebook and Twitter.

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